[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 23551-23552]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 CONFERENCE REPORT ON S. 1214, MARITIME TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ACT OF 
                                  2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 14, 2002

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak about the 
Conference Report on S. 1214, which the House approved last week and is 
now ready for signature by the President. I would like to point out a 
particular concern that is addressed in Section 445 of the conference 
agreement. Section 445 addresses the current problem, and the potential 
for greater future problems, of local jurisdictions seeking to impose 
taxes and fees on vessels merely transiting or making innocent passage 
through navigable waters subject to the authority of the United States 
that are adjacent to the taxing community. We are seeing instances in 
which local communities are seeking to impose taxes or fees on vessels 
even where the vessel is not calling on, or landing, in the local 
community. These are cases where no passengers are disembarking, in the 
case of passenger vessels, or no cargo is being unloaded in the case of 
cargo vessels and where the vessels are not stopping for the purpose of 
receiving any other service offered by the port. In most instances, 
these types of taxes would not be allowed under the Commerce Clause of 
the United States Constitution. Unfortunately, without a statutory 
clarification, the only means to determine whether the burden is an 
impermissible burden under the Constitution is to pursue years of 
litigation.

[[Page 23552]]

  Section 445 of the Conference Report addresses this problem by 
clarifying the sole circumstances when a local jurisdiction may impose 
a tax or fee on vessels. Local governments, and other non-Federal 
interests, may impose taxes or fees only under an existing exception 
under the Water Resources Development Act or under extremely limited 
circumstances in which reasonable fees can be charged on a fair and 
equitable basis for the cost of service actually rendered to the 
vessel. The fees must also enhance the safety and efficiency of 
interstate and foreign commerce and represent at most a ``small 
burden'' on interstate and foreign commerce. Generally, taxes will not 
be allowed under this section. The sole exceptions are stated in 
Section 445.
  Mr. President, I support Section 445 as an important correction of a 
silence in current law that should not be allowed to imperil legitimate 
commerce.

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